Why We're Using Review Scores

[Geoffrey42]

I neither question the Escapist's integrity nor doubt the continuing journalistic quality of the reviews, but giving in to the trend toward summarizing pages of writing, and the demands of the extremely-short-attention-spanned, just feels bad to me.

I'm sure having a score will get you more clicks, and mayhaps this makes it more likely that you'll be aggregated on Metascore (in a brief glance, I couldn't see if you already were with them assigning their own number), and achieve the related clickthroughs. I'm willing to bet that this is a sound business decision.

Beyond that, the idea of a review score saddens me, because the Escapist has always been, to me, the online giant in the realm of critical thinking on this pastime that we all share and love. To give a review score is to (somewhat) imply/suggest that a given game can be fairly represented by a single scale, and that seems directly counter to the idea that games are often complex.

So, I'm not going to stop reading your reviews (or stop assigning them greater influence when comparing with opposing viewpoints), but I will be a little sad every time I get to the end of one.

 

[BlicaGB]

Well said, traffic is the bread maker, after all, so why shoo away those that just want the number.

My issue is that in reading the reviews up until now, I always felt that playability and immersion, true game elements held the greatest sway in the review being given.

My concern was that with a numerical review, some chunks of what makes the game good get lost, with values being given to graphics and sound, and less to playability, story, etc. I have bought one or two 9+ rated games from the other sites ( before discovering The Escapist ) after reading the review to be left with a game that I wouldn't deign to use as a coaster. It seem the rating was all on how pretty it was and not in how good it was. This has left me jaded with value review sites. So I started renting, or demo-ing before buying games I was unsure about, that is, until I found The Escapist.

As long as the in-depth reviews and recommendations are there for us hardcore fans that actually want a educated opinion on what makes the game good, so that we can base our purchase on if the features of a game appeal to us instead of a attributed numerical value that explains nothing more, then I'm sold.

Besides, let the symbol-minded keep their symbols ( RIP George Carlin ). Maybe in seeing a 5 star, or a 4 star, they will be tempted to read and continue to read reviews to help them understand what they are buying. A more educated purchasing audience would be beneficial for the industry and all of us, in the end. But, please, keep the meat and the good words for the rest of us. I know you said you would, I'm just saying...

 

[capacollo]

I think this is becoming industry norm and necessary for data mining and new potential revenue stream so I understand why this may be necessary. As a compromise would it be possible not have the review score disclosed in the review itself unless the reader would like to see it by clicking on it as well as maybe an additional pages that highlights all score reviews (that can potentially link back to the full review).

 

[Byers]

Maybe one of these days you'll implement actually mentioning what platform the reviewed games are released for, preferably with some kind of tag at the top of the page, instead of forcing me to do wild guesswork until I go 'screw it' and look it up elsewhere.

 

[ShadowKirby]

It will be even a bigger shame to watch the posts in the reviews degrade to "well you gave game X 2 stars and gave game Y 3 stars when game X is a better game." Or the classic "This game deserved X stars"

Yeah. I don't doubt the integrity and professionalism of the Escapist writing staff but I'm worried about the community devolving to the level of some other sites where fanboyism is rampant when fanboys flood the community. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[John Funk]

Well said, traffic is the bread maker, after all, so why shoo away those that just want the number.

My issue is that in reading the reviews up until now, I always felt that playability and immersion, true game elements held the greatest sway in the review being given.

My concern was that with a numerical review, some chunks of what makes the game good get lost, with values being given to graphics and sound, and less to playability, story, etc. I have bought one or two 9+ rated games from the other sites ( before discovering The Escapist ) after reading the review to be left with a game that I wouldn't deign to use as a coaster. It seem the rating was all on how pretty it was and not in how good it was. This has left me jaded with value review sites. So I started renting, or demo-ing before buying games I was unsure about, that is, until I found The Escapist.

As long as the in-depth reviews and recommendations are there for us hardcore fans that actually want a educated opinion on what makes the game good, so that we can base our purchase on if the features of a game appeal to us instead of a attributed numerical value that explains nothing more, then I'm sold.

Besides, let the symbol-minded keep their symbols ( RIP George Carlin ). Maybe in seeing a 5 star, or a 4 star, they will be tempted to read and continue to read reviews to help them understand what they are buying. A more educated purchasing audience would be beneficial for the industry and all of us, in the end. But, please, keep the meat and the good words for the rest of us. I know you said you would, I'm just saying...

As Russ said, the only thing that's going to change is that there will be a little gold star at the end of the review. We like our format. We think communicating what it's like to actually play the game is the most important thing, not whether a game gets an 8.6 or an 8.5 and how you can possibly quantify that.

 

[PrimoThePro]

i dissapointedly agree, i guess. the comments! they are right!

Well said, traffic is the bread maker, after all, so why shoo away those that just want the number.

though i agree that they will get alot more people flowing in, its just as yahtzee said, you cant critique a game solely on a digit, that there are so many dimensions that just arent reached when you give a game an 8.5. unfortunately, the world doesnt work this way so... bring on the numbers i guess.

 

[Weaver]

I'd rather everyone just switch to a boolean mechanism instead of numeric scores:

Recommend/Don't Recommend

I've played games that have a metacritic of 7/10 that I liked a lot more than some that have 9.5/10 - this is why I feel a recommend or don't recommend option would be great, since a 7/10 could very well be worth playing, but a lot of people will skip it because it's not at least an 8.

 

[coldfrog]

The escapist is the only Video Game website that would ever use Emerson to explain why they are changing their policies. Yet another reason I don't get my gaming news from anywhere else.

I salute you!

Frankly, I will never pay attention to the star rating. It's all in what it says. Nevertheless, I understand why some people will want it and I agree that it is worth appealing to as many people as possible. If giving a score will make the difference between sticking around or not, why not throw it in? With a solid description of the levels, it's certainly not hard to determine what you would mark it as. Do what you must!

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

While I'm not fully convinced including a score is necessary, as long as they keep the bottom-line recommendations at the end (which I always found more useful than scores), I'll be happy.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I didn't even notice the score, and I like it that way. If you have to put scores in, put them somewhere out of the way, where I don't have to see them. I loved that the Escapist had the balls to not reduce sophistication to a cheap score, and I prized the magazine over any other gaming review site in part because of that fact. If I wanted scores I'd go to Metacritic, or Gamestop, maybe even IGN. If I wanted actual, human, emotive reviews, I come here. But, if you have to put down a score, then at least do it innocuously. The stars system is alright, since it's one of the least complex arbitrary systems that could be used, and even manages to clarify that you don't really want to reduce gaming to arbitrary scores. Don't back down, Escapist. Stay strong, stay complex, and stay emotive. If you can boast Yahtzee as the "free-spirited rebel of video game journalism", why can't the entire site boast such claims? Be independent, be creative, and be beyond the ordinary! Be The Escapist!

 

[jtesauro]

I've been having this discussion for a long time now, and when I started my blog I refused to put review scores on there as a rule, and then it turned into a debate about having to institute SOME kind of final grade system on there.

The actual system I went with is...well, it's me. Check the site if you want to see for yourself, but it's not something X-Play would use, that's all I'm going to say here.

In regards to this decision by the Escapist, I can understand the change, and I think you're in a position where it will actually do more good then harm. You're established, you've got your fan base, the people who know what you do and will stick by you, this shouldn't be something that hurts you.

I hope. I've hit the point where I more or less gave up on any other site for reviews, so if the site starts to suffer, then so will I.

 

[Magnalian]

I've never paid much attention to the reviews the escapist offers, as I don't have a lot of faith in reviews altogether. Games, movies, books etc. will always appeal to some people more than others and this shows in most reviews. For example, I went to see Yes Man with a couple of friends and I had a great time. The critics apparently didn't, calling it unoriginal and stale.

I have seen some video reviews on here though, and they do give a little insight into what a game feels like. Maybe I'll try reading one next time.

 

[luvd1]

If people only want a score, then why bother with writing anything in the first place? You might as well write the review out, print it, fold it up and wear it as a fetching pirates hat so you can still feel like you actually did something worth while. I hate scores, they don't tell you anything about a game. they're totally pointless.... If you pardon the pun... Or don't.

 

[GonzoGamer]

So this is to appease metacritic?
Or do I have to use a different Stega-sheet.

 

[Outright Villainy]

It's very hard to be in favour of scores, and this seems like a slippery slope. 5 stars is better than a percentage though, those are just silly. As long as the quality of writing doesn't decline, I'll let this slide.